Biscuit cutting and the like machinery



April 1941- I E. M. CROSLAND 2,239,083

BISCUIT CUTTING AND THE LIKE MACHINERY Filed March 25, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l to m [nventof 25y mum)@[l D cu A Home;

April 22, 1941. E. M. CROSLAND BISCUIT CUTTING AND THE LIKE MACHINERY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 25, 1940 Inventor v A ttorneygil Patented Apr. 22, 1941 BISCUIT CUTTING AND THE LIKE MACHINERY Edward Milner Crosland, Earlestown, Newton-le- Willows, England, assignor to T. & T. Vicars Limited, Earlestown, Newton-1e-Willows, England, a British company Application March 25, 1940, Serial No. 325,919 In Great Britain January 28, 1939 8 Claims. (Cl. 107-24) The present invention relates to improvements in biscuit cutting and the like machinery of the type in which a cutter head having a plurality of cutting or embossing knives, or both thereon is adapted to be reciprocated relatively to a sheet of. dough on a table or web supported by said table and moving in a plane at right angles thereto.

It is desirable in machines of this type to provide means of adjusting the height of the cutting table or surface supporting the sheet of dough relatively to the cutters or embossers and an object of the present invention is to provide a simplified means for this purpose and to consid erably lighten the weight of the reciprocating masses formed by the table.

According to the present invention the cutting table is suspended from trunnions which are mounted on an eccentric bush which in turn is mounted on a second eccentric bush carried in I circular bearing in the headstocks of the cutting machine so that a turning of these bushes equally and oppositely will displace the axis of the trunnions for the suspended table in one direction alone, that is to say without any displacement in a second direction.

The invention is more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a cutting table of a biscuit making machine.

Figure 2 is a corresponding side elevation.

Figure 3 is a detail end view of the adjusting mechanism.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the adjustment mechanism.

Figure 5 is a detail.

According to the present invention a cutting table I has trunnions 2 at either end, which fit in slings 3 and 4. These slings hang freely from an overhead pivot shaft 5. Between pivot shaft 5 and the bearing in the sling are two eccentrics 6 and 1- which eccentrics are capable of angular displacement in opposite directions. The eccentrio 6 is made common with segmental worm wheel 8 and eccentric 1 is made common with segmental worm wheel 9. These segments are made to revolve by engaging with Worms it and II one worm being right hand and one left hand causing the segments to be revolved in the opposite directions. A complete half turn of both segments will give the maximum adjustment that the eccentrics can provide.

One advantage of this arrangement is that the eccentric adjustment can be made whilst the table is being oscillated backwards and forwards and whilst the crosshead is moving up and down.

As may be seen from Figure 4 the movement of handwheel it through the spiral gears mounted on it, will revolve the four worms simultaneously and therefore will adjust the height of the table from both sides of the machine. If, however, adjustment on one side only is found necessary then one pair of spiral wheels may be separately mounted on sleeve [6 as shown which sleeve can be connected or disconnected at will from the shaft I2 by means of a spring key or other commonly known device. As shown the spring key within shaft I2 is the connecting driving member between the shaft and the sleeve, this spring key may be withdrawn by means of knob l5 extending through the middle of the handwheel.

The sling 4 (Figure 2) ,which may be made of steel plate, has a rectangular opening IS, the sides of which opening act as a guide for the crosshead l9, which crosshead of the cutters or thelike tools is given a reciprocating motion relative to the table by eccentric 20 through connecting rod 2 I.

An adjustment of the table relative to the cutters is necessary 56 that cutters of different depths may be accommodated or packings of different thicknesses may be used between the canvas cutting cloth and the table. It is also desirable that within certain limits one end of the table may be lifted higher than the other in the case of uneven cutters or packings and to enable this to be eifected by the control I3, l5, the table as shown particularly in Figure 5 has part spherical bearings 22 in the slings 4. It is further desirable that the table may be tilted to a limited extent from side to side which can be effected by suitable adjustment of set screws 23 one at each of the four corners of the table. The table can then be made to accommodate itself to cutters of considerable width. In effect the table should have a universal adjustment to ac commodate different sets of cutters which may not be exactly parallel with the cutter crosshead to which they are mounted.

In the particular arrangement shown the table is suspended upon trunnions mounted about a pair of nested eccentric sleeves or bushes which may be turned equally and oppositely in both directions, positive means being shown whereby each eccentric bush is displaced angularly and oppositely to the other. It will be obvious, however, that in certain cases only one eccentric bush need be positively displaced, whereupon the other will accommodate itself by a displacement due t frictional reaction.

The arrangement of the present invention is particularly suitable in constructions where the cutting table oscillates in an arc about the axis of the shaft 5, or an axis slightly displaced there-- from and parallel thereto.

It will be obvious that the table may also be mounted by other means giving a straight line displacement along an axis intersecting the axis of swing of the table, such as by parallel links or toggle links so that in this case also the height of the table may be adjusted during running of the machine and operation of the cutting, embossing or the like tools.

I declare that what I claim is:

1. A biscuit cutting machine comprising a table, a cutter head reciprocable relative to said table and having a plurality of biscuit forming tools thereon, slings having one end of each adapted to support said table and having openings in the opposite ends thereof, a pair of bushes in the form of eccentric sleeves disposed one within the other and within the openings in said slings, a supporting shaft passing through the inner of said bushes, and means for rotating said bushes relative to onev another whereby to displace said slings in a straight line.

2. A biscuit cutting machine comprising a table, a cutter head reciprocahle relative to said table and having a plurality of biscuit forming tools thereon, slings having one end of each adapted to support said table and having openings in the opposite ends thereof, a pair of bushes in the form of eccentric sleeves disposed one Within the other and within the openings in said slings, a supporting shaft passing through the inner of said bushes, and means for rotating said bushes angularly, equally and oppositely whereby to displace said slings in a straight line,

3. A biscuit cutting machine comprising a table, a cutter head reciprocable relative to said table and having a plurality of biscuit forming tools thereon, slings having one end of each adapted to support said table and having openings in the opposite ends thereof, a pair of bushes in the form of eccentric sleeves disposed one within the other and within the openings in said slings, a supporting shaft passing through the inner of said bushes, a worm wheel on one of said bushes, a worm meshing with said worm wheel, and means for rotating said worm whereby to displace said slings in a straight line.

4. A biscuit cutting machine comprising a table,

a cutter head reciprccable relative to said table and having a plurality of biscuit forming tools thereon, slings having one end of each supporting said table and having openings in the opposite ends thereof, a supporting shaft, a pair of bushes in the form of eccentric sleeves disposed one within the other at opposite ends of said shaft with the shaft extending through the inner bushes and with the outer bushes extending through the openingsin said slings, a worm wheel on each of said bushes, a worm meshing with each of said worm wheels, means for rotating said worms whereby to displace said slings in a straight line, and a cross shaft connecting the aaeaose slings at each end of the table for operating-said worms simultaneously.

5. A biscuit cutting machine comprising a table, a cutter head reciprocable relative to said table and having a plurality of biscuit forming tools thereon, slings having one end of each supporting said table and having openings in the opposite ends thereof, a supporting shaft, a pair of bushes in the form of eccentric sleeves disposed one within the other at opposite ends of said shaft with, the shaft extending through the inner bushes and with the outer bushes extending through the openings in said slings, a worm wheel on each of said bushes, a worm meshing with each of said worm wheels, means for rotating said worms whereby to displace said slings in a straight line, a cross shaft connecting the slings at each end of the table for operating said worms simultaneously, and means permitting operation of one of said worms independently of the other.

6. A biscuit cutting machine comprising a table,

a cutter head reciprocable relative to said table and having a plurality of biscuit forming tools thereon, slings having one end of each supporting said table and having openings in the opposite ends thereof, a supporting shaft, a pair of bushes in the form of eccentric sleeves disposed one with in the other at opposite ends of said shaft with the shaft extending through the inner bushes and with the outer bushes extending through the openings in said slings, a worm wheel on each of said bushes, separate worms for each of said Worm wheels, operating shafts for said worms, a common driving shaft for all of said worm operating shafts, and means for operating the worms at one end of said table independently of the other.

7. A biscuit cutting machine comprising a table, a cutter head reciprocable relative to said table and having a plurality of biscuit forming tools thereon, slings having one end of each adapted to support said table and having openings in the opposite ends thereof, a pair of bushes in the form of eccentric sleeves disposed one within the other and within the openings in said slings, a supporting shaft passing through the inner of said bushes, means for rotating said bushes relative to one another whereby to displace said slings in a straight line, said slings having guiding slots intermediate the ends thereof, and means providing projections on said cutter head, said projections being adapted to move in the slots in said slings.

8. A biscuit cutting machine comprising a table, a cutter head reciprocable relative to said table and having a plurality of biscuit forming tools thereon, slings at each end of said table, means providing a pivotal connection between one end of each sling and said table, said slings having openings in the opposite ends thereof, a pair of bushes in the form of eccentric sleeves disposed one within the other and within the openings in said slings, a supporting shaft passing through the inner of said bushes, and means for rotating said bushes relative to one another whereby to displace said slings in a straight line.

EDWARD M. CROSLAND. 

